160 THE BOROUGH OF THE BRONX 



carefully inspected the neighborhood, and selecting seven suitable 

 sites for redoubts, promptly gave orders to commence the work of 

 erecting fortifications. Two of these redoubts — the Cock Hill Fort 

 overlooking the mouth of Spuyten Duyvil Creek, and a fort on 

 Marble Hill, afterwards called by the British, Fort Prince Charles 

 — were on the island of Manhattan ; the remaining five were in the 

 Borough. 



The location of the chain of fortresses overlooking the valley 

 of Kingsbridge which have been designated by numerical names 

 by the British who captured them in October, 1776, is as follows : 



Number One forms the foundation of Mr. W. C. Muschen- 

 heim's house on Spuyten Duyvil Hill, west of the junction of 

 Sydney Street and Independence Avenue. It was a square stone 

 redoubt so built as to command the Hudson and Spuyten Duyvil 

 Creek. 



Number Two was the American Fort Swartout, named in honor 

 of Colonel Abraham Swartout, whose regiment built it, as well as 

 a small battery at the mouth of the creek near the site of the 

 Spuyten Duyvil station of the New York Central and Hudson River 

 Railroad. This battery was to prevent the enemy from entering 

 the creek in boats. It was a small circular redoubt on the crown 

 of Tippett's Hill northeast of the intersection of Sydney and Troy 

 Streets. The walls still remain. 



Number Three, a small stone redoubt, was located on the crest 

 of Spuyten Duyvil Hill and commanded the junction of the Spuyten 

 Duyvil road and the present Riverdale Avenue, as well as the ex- 

 treme northerly end of Manhattan Island opposite the fort on 

 Marble Hill, called Fort Prince Charles. The site of Fort Number 

 Three is occupied by the Warren Sage house. 



Number Four, the American Fort Independence, was the 

 largest and perhaps the most important of all. It was situated on 

 the farm of Captain Richard Montgomery, on the eastern side of 

 the valley formed by Tetard's Hill on the east and Tippett's Hill 

 on the west, and it commanded the Boston and Albany roads 

 which were on either side of it. It was built of bastioned 

 earthwork by the Pennsylvania Line, assisted by the 

 militia, under the direction of Colonel Rufus Putnam who 

 had constructed Fort Washington. On October 28, 1776, upon 

 the approach of the Hessians under General Knyphausen, Colonel 

 Lasher, the American commander, destroyed the barracks and 



